Deal or No Deal

A deal at the final table of a tournament is as common as Fintan “Arthur Daly” Gavin blowing his chips on a bluff, it happens every time. And there is absolutely no doubt that the poker Gods look poorly on anyone that refuses to make a deal. I know a lot of people who think players that won’t deal are cheap ass, tight fisted, miserable bastards, which of course could very well be true, but this isn’t what causes affront to the Gods, no no, make no mistake, if a players refuses to do a deal at the final table he is saying he is better then you, the fact is you are lucky to be at the same table as them. In a game which relies so heavily on luck these players have elevated themselves to an almost divine level in their own minds and this is what incurs the wroth of the true Gods and divine retribution will be theirs.

One of the most recent and well know occurrence of a deal gone bad involved Adrian “The Negotiator” Walsh in the IPC, he tries to come across as a man of the people, a one love hippy type with all that long hair and silent contemplation, but I have heard rumours from people close to him that it’s a wig and in reality he’s as bald as Danny DeVito, and I know for a fact he is a man. utd. supporter, so right away you now there is a certain amount of mental instability. With 30 players remaining and 26 getting paid at the IPC a deal was suggested, money back, €2000, for the players 27^th-30^th and of the 30 he was the one man that stood alone and refused, he was knocked out so fast he nearly went back in time, I mean it, he was actually eliminated before some of the player found out he had rejected the deal. And he used to be such a nice lad until he got mixed up with that Lesson Lounge crowd.

Another occurrence of the phenomenon was witnessed last Saturday at the Eglinton in the Irish Open satellite, John Ward was chip leader with 4 players left, there was 3 tickets and €900 for 4^th, it was suggested that they take €3600 each and anyone playing the open just add €900, John refused, a ticket or bust he said, oh how small and petty the pokers Gods can be. I hope he buys himself something nice with his €900.

We’re all gamblers and chancers and we all get our run of luck, so please, next time your running hot don’t start strutting around like your something special, remember the Gods are watching and they have a sick sense of humour.